A message from Centre Director Trevor Lithgow
The MACSYS Executive Committee and Strategic Research Committee have each met in the last week, and I wanted to make a note of three of the most talked about points that should not be forgotten from our experience at Cape Schanck during the MACSYS 2025 Annual Retreat.
Firstly, our first retreat was organised around the activities of our four main committees. There were some excellent discussions in the Training & Professional Development Committee (TPDC) session, during the dinner-time poster session, and later in the breaks about the importance of cross-Node and/or cross-disciplinary collaborations to enhance the research training for PhD students and Research Fellows. Consolidating these collaborations takes informed discussion and sharing of data, often hot off the press. The TPDC is developing initiatives to facilitate these collaborative relationships, including Advisory Committees composed of mentors and collaborators for Research Fellows. It was also recognised that within the grand vision of WCM development, some Research Fellows and PhD students worry about how their own projects fit.
MACSYS will continue to recognise the value of research fellow and student projects that are providing foundational work in data science, in biology, in statistics as well as new mathematics, all directed at having the foundations in place for biologically relevant and predictive WCMs. All of our projects matter because they focus on excellence and aim to be published in the best possible journals. Your individual career development will not be compromised to develop WCMs; quite the contrary, we are working to ensure that MACSYS’ grand vision creates opportunities for collaboration, helping each of you publish stronger papers than you would outside MACSYS.
Secondly, amongst the workshops and other events in 2026 ideas were generated from the Strategic Research Committee sessions for four workshops that specifically support advancing our research themes:
(i) Theme 1 workshop: State-of-the-art and newer mathematics and statistics for WCMs
(ii) Theme 2 workshop: Genotype-phenotype mapping, specifically addressing the connections and disconnect between transcriptomic data and proteomic data.
(iii) Theme 3 workshop: Organised data portals to support data-driven projects to efficiently automate the generation of large-scale computer models of biological cells.
(iv) Theme 4 workshop: Bridging the gap between mathematical modelling and experimental biology for insight into the inner workings of cells, including organised code repositories.
Thirdly, on show right throughout the Retreat was a highly productive discourse being encouraged around the MACSYS vision for whole cell modelling, contesting ideas on when (now or later) we build our first WCMs, whether biology-led or maths-led projects are more valuable, etc.
(i) It was satisfying to see that while false contests like “biology vs maths” can be catalytic, it was always intended and is solidifying that the integrated path in MACSYS is maths-led, biology-informed modelling. What we do is mathematical modelling of cellular systems.
(ii) Other cool take-homes from the Retreat included the growing acceptance that we are well on the way to having several WCMs in order that the MACSYS toolbox will provide more than one means to have biologically-relevant and predictive (not just descriptive) WCM capability.
The Operations Committee have put together a post-retreat survey (below) to gather everyone’s thoughts, please follow up on this to have your say. We are looking forward to hearing from you on what we should build into the 2026 Annual Retreat!
Click this link to complete MACSYS post-events feedback survey 2025 – Fill out form - or scan the QR Code above. The survey will take under 10 mins to complete.
Who should complete the survey
The survey is designed for all members, including those who did not attend the retreat as it asks for responses that will influence future retreats.
To ensure we offer events and sessions that are accessible and useful to our members, please complete the post-retreat survey by 11:59pm Friday 28 November. The survey will take under 10 mins to complete.
Tell us what you really think
We are keen to hear from you to understand what worked well and where improvements are needed. Honest feedback is invited and survey responses are anonymous, names and email addresses are not collected. Want to influence where future retreats will take place and when? Please participate so your opinions can be counted. We want to include as many members’ voices as possible in these decisions.
Students and Research Fellows
This survey also has sections for you to provide feedback on the 27 October Workshop Day and share information on broad career aspirations. Please take the opportunity to identify professional development goals to help inform planning for future MACSYS’s training sessions.
Group shot from Research Fellow/Student Workshop